The Trump administration finalized weaker fuel economy standards that reverse Biden-era targets built around electric vehicles, a shift industry leaders call a return to market reality.
On Monday, the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set new Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules, the federal mileage standards Congress created in 1975 for cars and heavier trucks.
CBS News reported that NHTSA projects a fleetwide average of 34.9 miles per gallon by model year 2031 under the new path, compared with 50.4 miles per gallon under the Biden administration rules those standards replace.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy framed the change as relief for buyers who never asked for a forced shift to pricier electric models.
Duffy said the prior approach had boxed manufacturers into products families rejected at the dealership.
"Thanks to President Trump's leadership, we have finally ended the illegal mandate that forced automakers to produce more expensive electric vehicles that American families didn't want,"
The department said the rule will lower the average upfront cost of new vehicles by $1,300, give automakers more choice in what they build, and save Americans $138 billion over the next five years.
DOT also said the rule would cut annual U.S. oil consumption in 2050 by about 1.3 billion barrels compared with 2024 levels.
When the 2024 mileage standards took effect, NHTSA had estimated they would reduce gas use by 14 billion gallons by 2050 and argued long-term fuel savings would more than offset higher sticker prices.
The new targets reverse that escalation. Biden-era rules were built to cut emissions and pull more shoppers into electric vehicles. The Trump administration is pulling the federal mileage floor back toward what the market will actually carry.
John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry trade group, backed the weaker standards as a fix for rules that ignored real demand.
"The standards finalized under the previous administration effectively required a switchover to electric vehicles that was out of step with market realities and customer demand,"
Bozzella added that the final rule is “an appropriate course correction.”
Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group, an automotive consulting firm, said the rewrite helps manufacturers cut costs by matching production to what customers buy.
He said the rules avoid loading cars with expensive technology that failed to deliver the fuel savings the Biden administration promised, and he called the $1,300 savings estimate “entirely achievable.”
Kelley Blue Book figures cited in the coverage put the average new car at $50,089 as of August and the average electric vehicle at $54,813. Those gaps matter when regulators push fleets toward pricier powertrains.
The Washington Examiner cast the CAFE rollback as an affordability strike after years of Obama-era and Biden-escalated mileage mandates, including the steep 2031 target the new rule replaces.
Not every industry voice expects an immediate payoff for shoppers.
Sean Tucker, managing editor at Kelley Blue Book, said in an email that carmakers “can't move fast enough to design new cars for a regulation likely to last just two to three years.” He doubted the rewrite will reshape manufacturing in a major way if the rules prove temporary.
Ray Shefska, co-founder of CarEdge, was blunter about retail pricing. In an email to CBS News, he argued manufacturers have little reason to cut prices while volume and margins hold.
"Automakers are not going to lower prices as long as they sell 15.6 million to 16.2 million new cars annually while their profit margins increase due to relaxed government fuel economy standards,"
Shefska said any extra savings would more likely offset losses from poor electric-vehicle investments than show up as lower MSRPs.
Environmental critics moved early. On Saturday, before the final rule was released, Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation For All campaign, attacked the direction of the rewrite.
"Less fuel-efficient cars mean more gas burned, spending more at the pump and dirtier air in our communities,"
That warning landed as national pump prices already stung. The average price for gasoline on Monday stood at $4.48 a gallon, up from less than $3 earlier this year, with drivers paying more as the war with Iran disrupts the global flow of fuel.
CAFE standards have always been a Washington lever on the private lot. Congress wrote them in 1975 to dictate miles-per-gallon requirements across light-duty vehicles and medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Administrations since have tightened or loosened the numbers. The Biden path aimed at a 50.4 mpg fleet by 2031 and leaned hard on electrification. The Trump path sets NHTSA’s estimate at 34.9 mpg by the same model year and restores room for gasoline and hybrid choices buyers still demand.
Federal agencies can set the average. They cannot force a family to finance a vehicle it does not want, at a price it cannot carry, for a technology it did not request.
Mileage rules should follow the customer, not drag the customer to the charging station by decree.